This textbook has been written to help teachers and students to pilot their way through the enormous and ever expanding literature on the French Revolution. The author makes a conscious effort to combine social and political interpretations of the origins of the Revolution and offers a synthesis which takes full account of current debates. He also seeks to restore the Revolution to its domestic environment. Notwithstanding the powerful contemporary myth of rupture, the author argues that the dramatic events of 1789 need to be considered alongside the reform achievements of Bourbon absolute monarchy. The result is a new account of the gestation of the Revolution which is both up-to-date and satisfying in its range of vision.

The period following the American War of Independence was, for the France of Louis XVI, the high water mark of its diplomatic prestige. With France's arch-rival, Britain, humbled by the loss of her main north American colonies and deprived of any significant continental alliances, Louis felt confident that France could at last re-assume its natural role as the economic, political and military leader of Europe. That this did not happen, and if anything France's international prestige sunk even lower, was a bitter pill for its rulers, and one that was to have important ramifications beyond the sphere of foreign policy. Indeed, continued frustration at France's impotence on the world stage became a pressing domestic issue, with radically opposing solutions being put forward to bring about a 'national regeneration'. This work focuses on the policy responses of the National Constituent Assembly to the issues of global competition, especially in the maritime, colonial and economic sphere, and with particular reference to Anglo-French rivalry. These responses are contrasted to the policies of the 'reforming' royal government of the Pre-Revolution of 1787-1789. From this analysis of the Old and New Regimes' respective global policies, it is shown how French responses to the demands of international competition played a role in both fostering and shaping the Revolution of 1789. Moreover, Whiteman argues that in spite of profound ideological differences, in material terms there was a significant degree of continuity between the policies of the Constituent deputies and the Old Regime royal government.

The subject of the origins of the French Revolution is one of the most important and controversial themes in European history. This fresh critical appraisal begins with a masterly exposition and assessment of recent scholarly debate on the subject, followed by a lucid analysis, supported by documentary evidence, of the multiple stresses which undermined the Old Regime. The author concludes that a revolution was unavoidable because the Old Regime was incapable of reforming fundamental defects in its political structures, but it was the contingent circumstances of 1788-9 that made the Revolution unexpectedly radical.

This is an up-to-date textbook which links together the end of the French old regime and the start of the Revolution, two periods of history which are often studied in isolation. It combines social and political interpretations of the 'origins' of the Revolution, and takes full account of current debates.

The author concludes with provocative statements about regime transition from communism. He rejects the idealistic notion that democratization can, by itself, remove the structural obstacles to economic transformation, and he sees high economic and political costs as unavoidable in transition from communism along either the Soviet or the Chinese path.

A refutation of revisionist interpretations of Marxist doctrine, the title essay (1899) explains why capitalism can never overcome its internal contradictions and defines the character of the proletarian revolution. 3 other essays.